Social Media and Customer Service: Listening to Your Customers Matters

One of the best ways to use social media and customer service is to listen to your customers. Treat each piece of information as a gift, because that’s exactly what it is. You’re getting valuable insight straight from the people who matter most – your customers.

Avoid A Crisis

You can avoid a crisis by monitoring your social media and customer service issues as they emerge. Handling these issues as they arise, in real-time, can prevent a potential crisis. In doing so, you can monitor and track ongoing customer concerns, and share that feedback with the teams in your organization.

Build Relationships

Take the opportunity to build relationships with your social consumers. Use social media and customer service to not just answer questions but to ask them as well. Be sure to respond to positive feedback (and negative – see above) and share helpful company information. For example, share answers to the top 5 frequently asked questions. Try sharing fun, little-known facts about your company to help strengthen your social customers’ bond with your brand.

Get Feedback

If you’re feeling up to the challenge, ask your customers directly for their comments and questions about your current products. But before you do, be sure your social media strategy includes a plan for tracking those responses, so that your customer service team addresses every customer support tweet or post as a priority, and every customer has a positive experience.

Boost Sales

Another upside to social media and customer service is that they may provide insight and opportunities for new product offerings and potential new product features. You may even discover new uses for your existing products – which in turn, could boost sales.

Get Ahead of the Competition

Though you may not think listening to what people are saying about your competitors might be a customer service opportunity, it is. Listening to the conversations around your competitors’ products is the perfect opportunity to fill a need that your competitors cannot. That type of competitive intelligence could also lead you to new product offerings and potential new product features.

We focus much of our time and energy on engaging and interacting with our social customers that we may forget that it’s also alright to listen. When you take the time to listen and respond thoughtfully, social consumers will come to rely on the customer service you provide through these channels. It will open the lines of communication and give you back so much more than you invest.

Are you using social media and customer service to listen to your customers? How does your brand help consumers through its social networks? Do you think there are drawbacks to providing customer service through social channels?